Luciferianism

{{Short description|Belief system that venerates Lucifer}} [[File:Sigil of Lucifer.svg|thumb|The sigil of Lucifer]]

'''Luciferianism''' is a belief system that venerates the essential characteristics that are affixed to Lucifer, the name of various mythological and religious figures associated with the planet Venus. The tradition usually reveres Lucifer not as the Devil, but as a destroyer, a guardian, liberator,<ref name="Spence, L. 1993">{{cite book |title=An Encyclopedia of Occultism |author=Spence, L. |publisher=Carol Publishing |date=1993}}</ref> light bringer or guiding spirit to darkness,<ref>{{cite book |title=Vampires in Their Own Words: An Anthology of Vampire Voices |author=Michelle Belanger |author-link=Michelle Belanger |publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide |date=2007 |page=175 |isbn=978-0-7387-1220-8}}</ref> or even the true god.<ref name="Spence, L. 1993"/> According to Ethan Doyle White in ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', among those who "called themselves Satanists or Luciferians", some insist that Lucifer is an entity separate from Satan, while others maintain "the two names as synonyms for the same being".<ref name="Britannica-White">{{cite web |last1=White |first1=Ethan Doyle |title=History & Society. Satanism, occult practice |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Satanism |website=Britannica |access-date=1 January 2024}}</ref>

==Etymology== {{Main article|Lucifer}} [[File:Satan summoning his Legions, 1796-1797 by Sir Thomas Lawrence.jpg|thumb|Illustration depicting Lucifer summoning his Legions by Thomas Lawrence, 1796–1797]] The word ''Lucifer'' is taken from the Latin Vulgate,<ref name=Kohler1923>{{cite book |last= Kohler |first=Dr. Kaufmann |title= Heaven and Hell in Comparative Religion with Special Reference to Dante's Divine Comedy |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RGn1ngEACAAJ&q=%22Heaven+and+Hell+in+Comparative+Religion+with+Special+Reference+to+Dante%27s+Divine%22 |date= 2006 |publisher= The MacMillan Company |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-7661-6608-0 |pages=4–5 |quote= Lucifer, is taken from the Latin version, the Vulgate }}</ref> which translates {{lang|he|הֵילֵל}} as ''lucifer''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.drbo.org/lvb/chapter/27014.htm |title=Latin Vulgate Bible: Isaiah 14 |publisher=DRBO.org |access-date=22 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="Vulgate Latin: Isaiah Chapter 14">{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/vul/isa014.htm#012 |title=Vulgate: Isaiah Chapter 14 |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=22 December 2012 |language=la}}</ref> The Biblical Hebrew word {{lang|he|הֵילֵל}}, which occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible,<ref name="biblesuite"/> has been transliterated as ''hêlêl'',<ref name="biblesuite">{{cite web | url=http://biblesuite.com/hebrew/heilel_1966.htm | title=Hebrew Concordance: hê·lêl – 1 Occurrence – Bible Suite | work=Bible Hub | publisher=Biblos.com | location=Leesburg, Florida | access-date=8 September 2013}}</ref> or ''heylel''. The Septuagint renders {{lang|he|הֵילֵל}} in Greek as {{lang|grc|ἑωσφόρος}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.septuagint.org/LXX/Isaiah/14 |title=LXX Isaiah 14 |publisher=Septuagint.org |access-date=22 December 2012 |language= el}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://bibledatabase.net/html/septuagint/23_014.htm |title=Greek OT (Septuagint/LXX): Isaiah 14 |publisher=Bibledatabase.net |access-date=22 December 2012 |language=el |archive-date=15 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115082309/http://bibledatabase.net/html/septuagint/23_014.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sepd.biblos.com/isaiah/14.htm |title=LXX Isaiah 14 |publisher=Biblos.com |access-date=6 May 2013 |language= el}}</ref> (''heōsphoros''),<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4W5gzptzfxUC&q=heosphoros+septuagint&pg=136 |title= The Old Enemy: Satan and the Combat Myth |author=Neil Forsyth |publisher= Princeton University Press |isbn= 978-0-691-01474-6 |date= 1989 |page=136 |access-date= 22 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SD6-YKBqGr0C&q=heosphoros+septuagint&pg=PA35 |title= The Devil: What Does He Look Like? |author= Nwaocha Ogechukwu Friday |publisher= American Book Publishing |isbn= 978-1-58982-662-5 |date=2012 |page=35 |access-date=22 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="Adelman">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Z7Ue5kAkw20C |title= The Return of the Repressed: Pirqe De-Rabbi Eliezer and the Pseudepigrapha |first= Rachel |last= Adelman | date=2009 |publisher= BRILL |location= Leiden |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z7Ue5kAkw20C&pg=PA67&dq=heosphoros+%22Dante+and+Milton%22 67] |isbn= 978-90-04-17049-0}} {{ISBN|90-04-17049-9}} (see: Pseudepigrapha).</ref> a name—literally "bringer of dawn"—for the so-called morning star.<ref>{{cite book |last= Taylor |first= Bernard A.; with word definitions by J. Lust |title= Analytical lexicon to the Septuagint |date=2009 |publisher= Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. |location= Peabody, MA|isbn= 978-1-56563-516-6 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JNaDupoSycMC&q=ἑωσφόρος&pg=256 |edition= Expanded |author2= Eynikel, E. |author3= Hauspie, K. |page=256 }}</ref>

In Christian and Jewish exegesis of Isaiah 14,<ref name="c994">{{cite web | title=Isaiah 14:12 Commentaries: "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! | website=Bible Hub | url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/isaiah/14-12.htm | access-date=May 27, 2025}}</ref><ref name="b325">{{cite book | last=Ibn-ʻEzrâ | first=Avrāhām | title=The Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah | isbn=978-0-87306-013-4 | page=}}</ref> Nebuchadnezzar II, who conquered Jerusalem in 587 BCE, is condemned in a prophecy by the Isaiah and called the "Morning Star" (i.e., the planet Venus).<ref>''Helel ben Shaḥar'' "day-star, son of Dawn"; planet Venus is one of the brightest celestial bodies at night, which can be seen in the early morning when no other star can be seen anymore, but vanishes when the sun, the real light, rises.</ref><ref name="www.jewishencyclopedia.com 2052-astronomy">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Astronomy – Helel Son of Dawn|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2052-astronomy|encyclopedia=The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com|access-date=1 July 2012}}</ref> The Hebrew text in this chapter says, {{lang|he|הֵילֵל בֶּן-שָׁחַר (Helel ben Shachar, "shining one, son of dawn")}}.<ref name="www.jewishencyclopedia.com 2052-astronomy"/> ''Helel ben Shahar'' may refer to the Morning Star, but the text of Isaiah 14 gives no indication that ''Helel'' was a star or planet.<ref>Gunkel, "Schöpfung und Chaos," pp. 132 et seq.</ref><ref name=MM-Isa14>{{cite web|title=Isaiah Chapter 14|url=http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1014.htm|website=mechon-mamre.org|publisher=The Mamre Institute|access-date=29 December 2014}}</ref>  Later Christian tradition came to use the Latin word for "morning star", ''lucifer'', as a proper name ("Lucifer") for the Devil—as he was before his fall.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/350594/Lucifer | title=Lucifer | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica | access-date=6 September 2013}}</ref> As a result, ''Lucifer'' has become a by-word for Satan or "the Devil" in Christianity and popular Western literature,<ref name="Kohler1923" /> as in Dante Alighieri's ''Inferno'', Joost van den Vondel's ''Lucifer'', and John Milton's 1667 ''Paradise Lost''.<ref name="Adelman" /> However, the Latin word never came to be used exclusively, as in English, in this way. It was also applied to others, including Jesus.<ref>See Latin word ''lucifer'' below.</ref> The image of a morning star fallen from the sky is generally believed among bible scholar to have a parallel in Canaanite mythology.<ref>See #Mythology behind Isaiah 14:12</ref>

==History==

===Medieval=== The Luciferian label—in the sense of Lucifer-worshipper—was first used in the ''Gesta Treverorum'' in 1231 for a religious circle led by a woman named Lucardis (Luckhardis). It was said that in private she lamented the fall of Lucifer (Satan) and yearned for his restoration to heavenly rule. The sect was exposed by the Papal Inquisition. In 1234, Pope Gregory IX issued the bull ''Vox in Rama'' calling for a crusade against the Stedinger, who were accused of Luciferianism. The bull contains a detailed description of supposed rites and beliefs. This description was repeated and occasionally expanded in the following centuries, but "modern historiography agrees on their entirely fictitious nature".<ref name=Luijk>Ruben van Luijk, ''Children of Lucifer: The Origins of Modern Religious Satanism'' (Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 29–31.</ref> The actual identity of the heretics accused of Luciferianism is often difficult to ascertain.<ref name=Luijk/> Those of the 13th-century Rhineland appear to have been Cathars (Alexander Patschovsky)<ref>Colin Morris, ''The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church from 1050 to 1250'' (Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 475.</ref> or a distinct off-shoot of the Cathars (Piotr Czarnecki).<ref>Piotr Czarnecki, "Luciferianism in the 13th Century-a Forgotten Off-shoot of Catharism", ''Studia Historyczne'' 1.47 (2004): 3–19.</ref>

In the 14th century, the term Luciferians was applied to what appear to have been Waldensians.<ref name=Luijk/> They were persecuted under the Luciferian label in Schweidnitz in 1315 and in Angermünde in 1336. In 1392–1394, when some four hundred Luciferians from Brandenburg and Pomerania were brought before the inquisitor Peter Zwicker, he exonerated them of devil-worship and correctly identified them as Waldensians. At the same time, the inquisitor Antonio di Settimo in Piedmont believed the local Waldensians to be Luciferians.<ref name=UtzTremp>Kathrin Utz Tremp, [https://atusyd.dk/sites/default/files/aktiviteter/utz-tremp_heresy_ew.pdf "Heresy"], in Richard M. Golden, ed., ''Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition'' (ABC-CLIO, 2006), p. 486.</ref>

===Early modern=== Moses Harman's ''Lucifer The Light-Bearer'' was an individualist anarchist journal published in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has been reported that "the title was selected, stated Harman, because it expressed the paper's mission. Lucifer, the name given to the morning star by the people of the ancient world, served as the symbol of the publication and represented the ushering in of a new day. He declared that freethinkers had sought to redeem and glorify the name Lucifer while theologians cursed him as the prince of the fallen angels. Harman suggested that Lucifer would take on the role of an educator. 'The God of the Bible doomed mankind to perpetual ignorance,' wrote Harman, 'and [people] would never have known Good from Evil if Lucifer had not told them how to become as wise as the gods themselves.{{' "}}<ref>[https://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-quarterly-the-moses-harman-story/13209 "The Moses Harman Story" by William Lemore West at Kansas Historical Society]</ref>

''Lucifer'' was a publication edited by the influential occultist Helena Blavatsky. The journal was first published by Blavatsky. From 1889 until Blavatsky's death in May 1891, Annie Besant was a co-editor. Rudolf Steiner's writings, which formed the basis for anthroposophy, characterised Lucifer as a spiritual opposite to Ahriman, with Christ between the two forces, mediating a balanced path for humanity. Lucifer represents an intellectual, imaginative and otherworldly force which might be associated with visions, subjectivity, psychosis and fantasy. He associated Lucifer with the religious and philosophical cultures of Egypt, Rome, and Greece. Steiner believed that Lucifer, as a supersensible Being, had incarnated in China about 3000 years before the birth of Christ.

In what is known as the Taxil hoax, Léo Taxil (1854–1907) claimed that Freemasonry is associated with worshipping Lucifer. He alleged that leading Freemason Albert Pike had addressed "[t]he 23 Supreme Confederated Councils of the world" (an invention of Taxil), instructing them that Lucifer was God, and was in opposition to the evil god Adonai. Supporters of Freemasonry contend that, when Albert Pike and other Masonic scholars spoke about the "Luciferian path" or the "energies of Lucifer", they were referring to the Morning Star, the light bearer,<ref>"Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it ''he'' who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual, or selfish Souls? Doubt it not!" (Albert Pike, ''Morals and Dogma'', p. 321). Much has been made of this quote ([http://www.masonicinfo.com/lucifer.htm Masonic information: Lucifer]).</ref> the search for light, the very antithesis of dark, Satanic evil. Taxil promoted a book by Diana Vaughan (actually written by himself, as he later confessed publicly)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/taxil_confessed.html |title=Leo Taxil's confession |publisher=Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon |date=2 April 2001 |access-date=23 December 2012}}</ref> that purported to reveal a highly secret ruling body called the Palladium, which controlled the organization and had a Satanic agenda. As described by ''Freemasonry Disclosed'' in 1897: {{quote|With frightening cynicism, the miserable person we shall not name here [Taxil] declared before an assembly especially convened for him that for twelve years he had prepared and carried out to the end the most sacrilegious of hoaxes. We have always been careful to publish special articles concerning Palladism and Diana Vaughan. We are now giving in this issue a complete list of these articles, which can now be considered as not having existed.<ref>''Freemasonry Disclosed'' April 1897</ref>}}

Taxil's work and Pike's address continue to be quoted by anti-Masonic groups.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.masonicinfo.com/taxil.htm |title=Leo Taxil: The tale of the Pope and the Pornographer |access-date=14 September 2006}}</ref>

In ''Devil-Worship in France'', Arthur Edward Waite compared Taxil's work to what today would be called a tabloid story, replete with logical and factual inconsistencies.

Madeline Montalban was an English astrologer and witch. She co-founded the esoteric organisation known as the Order of the Morning Star (OMS), through which she propagated her own form of Luciferianism. In 1952, she met Nicholas Heron, with whom she entered into a relationship. An engraver, photographer, and former journalist for the ''Brighton Argus'', he shared her interest in the occult and together they developed a magical system based upon Luciferianism, the veneration of the deity Lucifer, or Lumiel, whom they considered to be a benevolent angelic deity. In 1956, they founded the Order of the Morning Star, or ''Ordo Stella Matutina'' (OSM), propagating it through a correspondence course.{{sfnp|Philips|2012|pp=81–82}} The couple sent out lessons to those who paid the necessary fees over a series of weeks, eventually leading to the twelfth lesson, which contained ''The Book of Lumiel'', a short work written by Montalban that documented her understanding of Lumiel, or Lucifer, and his involvement with humankind.{{sfnp|Philips|2012|pp=95–97}} The couple initially lived together in Torrington Place, London, from where they ran the course; but in 1961 moved to the coastal town of Southsea in Hampshire, where there was greater room for Heron's engraving equipment.{{sfnp|Philips|2012|p=81}}

===Modern=== In Anton LaVey's ''The Satanic Bible'', Lucifer is one of the four crown princes of hell, particularly that of the East, the "lord of the air", and is described as the bringer of light, the morning star, intellectualism, and enlightenment.<ref name=LaVey>{{cite book|last=LaVey|first=Anton Szandor|title=The Satanic Bible|date=1969|publisher=Avon|location=New York|isbn=978-0-380-01539-9|chapter=The Book of Lucifer: The Enlightenment|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/satanicbible00lave}}</ref> The title "lord of the air" is based upon Ephesians 2:2, which uses the phrase "prince of the power of the air'" to refer to Satan.

In ''Rules for Radicals'' (his final work, published in 1971 one year before his death), the prominent American community organizer and writer Saul Alinsky wrote at the end of his personal acknowledgements:

{{quote|Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer.<ref name="RULES">{{cite book |title=Rules for Radicals |year=1989 |url=https://archive.org/details/rulesfo_ali_1989_00_3206 |url-access=registration |first=Saul |last=Alinsky|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |isbn=9780679721130 }}</ref>}}

Author Michael W. Ford has written on Lucifer as a "mask" of the adversary, a motivator and illuminating force of the mind and subconscious.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bible of the Adversary|date=2007|publisher=Succubus Productions|page=8|chapter=Adversarial Doctrine}}</ref>

==Notable organizations== ===Fraternitas Saturni=== {{Main|Fraternitas Saturni}}

Fraternitas Saturni (lat.: "Brotherhood of Saturn") is a German magical order, founded in 1926 by Eugen Grosche a.k.a. Gregor A. Gregorius and four others. It is one of the oldest continuously running magical groups in Germany.{{sfnp|Flowers|1990|p=xiii}} The lodge is, as Gregorius states, "concerned with the study of esotericism, mysticism, and magic in the cosmic sense".{{sfnp|Flowers|1990|p=182}} The emphasis of the FS lies more on astrological and Luciferian teachings, rather than on Qabalah and Tarot compared to other Western magical orders founded in the early 20th century. Because of its unique approach to modern occultism, the FS is considered by many modern authors to be the most influential German magical order.{{sfnp|Flowers|1990|pp=53-63}} According to Stephen Flowers, Fraternitas Saturni (FS) "is (or was) the most unabashedly Luciferian organization in the modern Western occult revival".{{sfnp|Flowers|1990|p=xv}}

=== Assembly of Light Bearers === {{Main|Assembly of Light Bearers}}

The Assembly of Light Bearers (ALB),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cejvan |first=Olivia |title=Satanism: A Reader |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199913534 |pages=317–332 |chapter=Michael W. Ford (The Order of the Phosphorus, etc.), ''The Bible of the Adversary'' (2007) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BFLNEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Greater+Church+of+Lucifer%22&pg=PA317 |via=}}</ref> formerly known as the Greater Church of Lucifer (GCoL), is a Luciferian organization founded by Michael W. Ford in 2013.<ref name="Introvigne-2016">{{Cite book |last=Introvigne |first=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Introvigne |title=Satanism: A Social History |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004244962 |pages=506–508 |chapter=From the 20th to the 21st Century, 1994–2016 |doi=10.1163/9789004244962_015}}</ref>

In 2014, Luciferians founded a worldwide organization for Luciferians from Houston, Texas, known as the Greater Church of Lucifer (GCoL) under the leadership of Michael W. Ford, Hopemarie Ford and Jeremy Crow, founder of the Luciferian Research Society. Michael W. Ford and his wife have described their religion as "Luciferian witchcraft".<ref name="JPLS2023:sect.7-public">{{harvnb|Laycock|2023|loc=7 Contemporary Developments in Satanism. Public Satanism}}</ref>

In 2015, the GCoL opened a brick and mortar church located in Old Town Spring, Texas, with several dozen members. Over a hundred local residents, mainly Catholic, protested the opening of the church.<ref name="oldspring">{{cite web|url=http://www.click2houston.com/news/greater-church-of-lucifer-opens-despite-protests-in-old-town-spring/36165394|title=Greater Church of Lucifer opens doors despite protests in Old Town Spring|date=30 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Exorcised: Luciferian church looks to start anew after harassment |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/lifestyle/houston-belief/article/Exorcised-Luciferian-church-looks-to-start-anew-11093429.php |work=houston chronicle |date=23 April 2017|access-date=14 February 2024}}</ref> The town of Old Town Spring suffered from a boycott in response to the church, The church itself had windows smashed and its roof damaged after someone sawed off the branch of a 200-year-old pecan tree hanging over the church in the middle of the night.<ref>{{cite news |last=Le |first=Nguyen |title=In a small Texas town, a place to follow Lucifer |publisher=The Cougar |date=2016 |url=http://thedailycougar.com/2016/08/18/in-a-small-texas-town-a-place-to-follow-lucifer/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Controversial Church of Lucifer vandalized, grand opening still set for Friday |publisher=ABC News |date=October 30, 2015 |url=https://abc13.com/church-vandalized-grand-opening/1058676/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Rice |first=Harvey |title=Protests mar first service at Greater Church of Lucifer |url=https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Protests-mar-first-service-at-Greater-Church-of-6602994.php#photo-8880686 |publisher=Houston Chronicle |date=October 31, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Hanson |first=Hillary |title=Christians Protest Church Of Lucifer, End Up Fighting Among Themselves |publisher=Huffington Post |date=November 3, 2015 |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/church-of-lucifer-protests-texas_563932aae4b0411d306eb8f2}}</ref> Ford stated that The Greater Church of Lucifer was forced to shut down one year later because their landlord refused to renew their lease after receiving death threats.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Goransson |first=Niklas |title=Black Funeral |url=http://www.bardomethodology.com/articles/2019/05/29/black-funeral-interview/ |magazine = Bardo Methodology |date=May 29, 2019}}</ref>

== See also == * Lucis Trust *''Lucifer and Prometheus'' *Demonology * Satanism

==References== {{Reflist}}

===Works cited=== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book |last=Flowers |first=Stephen E. |title=Fire and Ice: Magical Teachings of Germany's Greatest Secret Occult Order |publisher=Llewellyn |year=1990 |isbn=0-87542-776-6}} * {{cite book|first1=Joseph P. |last1=Laycock |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/satanism/4150D0B522022169485FCD56FA7FE2BE |title=Satanism|year=2023 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |series=Elements in New Religious Movements |isbn=9781009057349 |edition=online}} * {{cite book|last=Philips|first=Julia|date=2012|title=Madeline Montalban: The Magus of St. Giles|location=Bloomsbury, London|publisher=Neptune Press|isbn=978-0-9547063-9-5}} {{refend}}

==External links== *{{Commonscat-inline|Luciferianism}}

Category:Luciferianism Category:Left-Hand Path